Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to fishing lures and, more particularly, to steerable fishing lures.
There are a wide variety of fishing lures designed for commercial, sport, and/or recreational purposes. Generally, the shape of a lure determines the manner in which the lure moves, often referred to as its “action,” through the water while being retrieved or trolled. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the action of a lure helps to entices fish, when present, to strike or bite at the lure. Accordingly, in addition to lure action, it is also important to be able to place the lure in a region where fish are present.
Traditionally, lure placement has been controlled by a person's lure casting ability. A person with good casting ability has the ability to place a lure where desired. For example, fish often populate areas close to the shore, under piers, or by structure such as tree stumps. Accordingly, it is often beneficial to be able to cast a lure as close to the shore or structure as possible. Often, however, a shoreline, tree(s) hanging thereover, or the structure itself makes it difficult to place a lure in a desired location. In such circumstances, an improperly cast lure can lead to frustration since the result of such an improper cast can lead to a lure being caught in a tree, snagged by a pier, or snagged by the structure.
In order to at least partially alleviate lure entanglement, lures have come to market that have the ability to be steered. For example, one such lure, having an airplane-like shape, uses an immoveable rudder located on the rear tail of the lure to control the direction the lure travels as it is trolled or retrieved. As such, such a lure may be cast to within a close proximity of the shore and/or pier and, upon retrieval or trolling, the immoveable rudder causes the lure to move towards the shore and/or pier. However, since the rudders on such lures are immoveable, the lures are only one directional. That is, depending on the orientation of the rudder, the lure may only move towards the right hand side of the person fishing or only towards the left hand side of the person fishing. In other words, since such lures are not adjustable, separate lures are needed for each desired direction sought.
Another example of a steerable lure includes a spinner-type lure having a rudder dish attached thereto. By adjusting the orientation of the rudder dish, a person fishing can determine what direction the lure will travel upon retrieval or trolling. Though the rudder dish is adjustable, making such adjustments can be cumbersome and difficult.
In yet another example of a steerable lure, a lure having roughly a minnow-shape has two bill-like structures attached thereto. These bill-like structures are flush to the body of the lure unless the lure is jerked by the line attached thereto. The jerking motion causes one of the two bill-like structures to open and no longer remain flush with the lure. Due to the nature of this type of steerable lure, it is not always predictable which of the two bill-like structures will open upon implementing the jerking motion. Once opened, if the lure is retrieved or trolled, the resulting flow of water past the open bill-like structure causes the structure to remain open and steer the lure in the direction the open bill-like structure is facing. If, however, trolling or retrieving is paused, the opened bill-like structure will once again close flush to the surface of the lure. As such, the lure can no longer be steered until the line attached to the lure is once again jerked. Because of the unpredictable nature of which bill-like structure will open, the lure may be made to move in an unintended direction.
It would therefore be desirable to have an apparatus and method capable of adjustably and predictably controlling the direction of lure travel as the lure travels through water.